TODAY!
Erin Hart
Please join
Erin Hart today (17 April), when she sits in for
Mario Solis-Marich on
Denver's Progressive Talk - AM 760 from
3pm - 6pm PDT | 4pm - 7pm MDT | 5pm - 8pm CDT | 5pm - 8pm EDT.
Listen online at www.am760.net and call 303-713-7600 to join the conversation.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Danehy: The City Council's decision to fire Mike Hein will hurt the community for years to come (tucsonweekly.com)
I thought of doing a Wizard of Oz thing, but they all would have been the Scarecrow. It could be argued that, collectively, they're dumber than a box of sticks, but these being lean economic times and all, I don't want to leave the Weekly open to a potential libel suit from an offended stick. At least one of them, were she taken to a public swimming pool, would wonder how that rope keeps the deep water from spilling into the shallow end.
Catherine O'Sullivan: Marijuana should stay illegal, because only the law saves some kids from the grip of drugs (tucsonweekly.com)
Whoa. After my last column ("Americans Are Already Too Distracted ... and Now We're Talking About Legalizing Pot?!), I got lots of letters. Weekly readers be a pot-smokin' bunch.
Marcel Berlins: How the French shrugged off their malaise - and the British gallantly picked it up for them (guardian.co.uk)
I have seen whole French news bulletins go by without a single bleak item about financial ruin.
The day I threw away fashion (guardian.co.uk)
At 60 Alison Lurie realised that fashion no longer spoke to her. So she got rid of half her wardrobe, gave up wearing makeup - and felt euphoric.
On the offensive (guardian.co.uk)
She dazzled in "The King of Comedy," befriended Madonna, berated Sarah Palin - and now she's bringing her acid tongue to the UK. John Patterson meets Sandra Bernhard.
Connie Ogle: Totally obsessed with Columbine (McClatchy Newspapers)
Dave Cullen intimately understands the emotional rollercoaster onto which he lures readers of his comprehensive history of the Columbine shootings.
Christopher Wink: Josh Wink is Huge in Europe (philadelphiaweekly.com)
So why can't the turntable legend get love at home?
Walter Tunis: Tower of Power puts its stamp on others' hits (McClatchy Newspapers)
For more than four decades, Tower of Power has defined soul music on its own terms.
Dana Stevens: "This Is Anvil!" (slate.com)
A documentary about Canada's most forgotten metal band.
Will Harris: A Chat with Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, Executive Producers of "Lost" (bullz-eye.com)
Carlton Cuse: Negotiating the end date (of 'Lost') was really a critical thing for us, because we had a mythology, but we just didn't know if that mythology had to last two years or nine years, and as a result, we were sort of paralyzed.
Steven Rea: Pitt bowed out, replaced by Mr. Right, Crowe (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
"It's funny with this film," says Kevin Macdonald about his taut conspiracy thriller "State of Play," starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck and opening Friday, "because I find myself spending a disproportionate amount of time talking about a film that might have been, that wasn't."
MICHAEL MARTIN: Kieran Culkin (interviewmagazine.com)
The thing that's striking about Kieran Culkin in person is his indistinctiveness: He's smaller, more diffuse, and more everyguy than the sharp and damaged characters on which he's made his name.
Academic Earth (academicearth.org)
Thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars.
The Weekly Poll
The 'Know thy Enemy' Edition...
The ancient Chinese military tactician Sun Tzu (400-320 BC) wrote in his acclaimed work, The Art of War...
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
I whole-heartedly believe in that wisdom and think that progressives should peruse conservative web sites regularly in order to keep up with current conservative trends, strategy and dogma. i.e Know thy Enemy.
That said, the question is... Do you read any conservative web sites and if so, which ones?
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to
Results Tuesday
How many feature films did Theodor Seuss Geisel ("Dr. Seuss") write?
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. is a 1953 fantasy film best known for being the only feature film ever written by Theodor Seuss Geisel ("Dr. Seuss"),
who was responsible for the story, screenplay, and lyrics.
Source
nailed it with:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny but much cooler than seasonal.
Connecticut Hall of Fame
Paul Newman
Paul Newman is joining fellow actor Katharine Hepburn, humorist Mark Twain, baseball great Jackie Robinson and others as members of the Connecticut Hall of Fame.
Newman died in September at age 83. He was a longtime Westport resident and an Oscar-winning star of stage, television and films.
He also was known as a champion of the underdog. He gave $250 million to charities through his food company and set up camps for severely ill children.
Newman was inducted into Connecticut's Hall of Fame on Thursday. The president of the Newman's Own Foundation received the award on behalf of Newman and his wife, actress Joanne Woodward.
Paul Newman
Ovation In Egypt
Daniel Barenboim
Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim stirred a sold out Cairo Opera House Thursday with a performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, drawing ovations in his first visit to Egypt.
The famed musician's enthusiastic welcome in a major Arab capital reflected his years of advocacy for peace with the Palestinians and Arab world and his efforts to use music to bring people together in a region where conflict otherwise keeps them apart.
He is believed to be the first prominent Israeli musician to perform in Cairo, and his visit was not entirely without criticism from some Egyptian intellectuals and artists who felt the time was not right to accept such a visit, especially with anger over Israel's offensive in Gaza still so potent.
It was only Barenboim's second time in an Arab country - his first was a 2003 trip to Morocco, where he led a group of young musicians from Israel and the Arab and Muslim worlds in the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
Daniel Barenboim
Makes Live Debut
YouTube Symphony
The YouTube Symphony got to Carnegie Hall.
With 21st-century multimedia pizazz, the Web site's first orchestra dazzled the audience in the 118-year-old concert hall in its debut concert.
Part publicity stunt by its producers, part vanity trip by its participants, part opportunity to attract a younger crowd to classical music, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra gathered 93 musicians from more than 30 countries.
Ranging in age from 15 to 55, the players included a surgeon-violinist and a professional poker player-cellist. The roster was selected by voters from among the 15 million viewers of www.YouTube.com/Symphony since the project was announced four months ago.
YouTube Symphony
Sinatra Rules
Funeral Music
Frank Sinatra's "My Way" is the most popular song played at funeral services, but other more arresting death-bed choices were revealed in a poll published in Britain Thursday.
Australian rockers AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" has stormed into the funereal charts along with Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust," while Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" has a new lease of life after its recent success on a talent show.
More traditionally, hymns including "The Lord Is My Shepherd" and "All Things Bright And Beautiful" are among music chosen by people to accompany their final journey.
While hymns and classics may have been traditional favourites, pop songs now account for more than half of the music chosen as people's final soundtrack, according to the poll of over 30,000 funerals.
Funeral Music
1871 Wedding Cake To Autcion
Princess Louise
Would you pay 145 pounds ($215) for a slice of very stale cake? That's what an antiques fair in Birmingham hopes to earn Thursday when people bid for the remnant from one of Britain's most controversial royal weddings.
The cake is thought to be the only surviving item from the 1871 wedding of Queen Victoria's fourth daughter, Princess Louise, to the Marquis of Lorne.
It went on sale for 145 pounds ($215) Thursday at the Antiques for Everyone fair in Birmingham. The seller is antiques dealer John Shepherd. He bought the slice from a private seller who is a descendant of a noble family from Kent.
The wedding caused an uproar when Princess Louise angered the Prince of Wales by becoming the first British princess to marry a commoner. She was determined not to be burdened by the ritual of marrying another royal.
Princess Louise
Can't Be Streamed Online
Downloading Hearing
Oral arguments in a music downloading lawsuit filed by the recording industry against a Boston University student can't be streamed online, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous decision that allowed online streaming and said it was "bound to enforce" rules that close federal courtrooms in Massachusetts to webcasting and other forms of broadcast.
Charles Nesson, a Harvard Law School professor representing student Joel Tenenbaum, had requested that a courtroom video service be allowed to transmit a hearing to the school's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, which wanted to stream it unedited on its Web site with free access.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner approved the request in January.
But the Recording Industry Association of America appealed the decision, arguing that it violated federal court guidelines on cameras and threatened its ability to get a fair trial.
Downloading Hearing
Settles Fraud Suit
Tawny Kitaen
Tawny Kitaen and her ex-boyfriend have settled a lawsuit she brought against him claiming he cheated her out of $3 million in assets during their four-year relationship.
Her lawyer, William Briggs, would not provide details on the settlement reached Wednesday, except to say that the 47-year-old actress is pleased with the settlement. The case was scheduled to go to trial next week.
Her former boyfriend, real estate executive Philip Cyburt, denied any wrongdoing.
Kitaen accused Cyburt of taking money from her brokerage account, writing checks in her name and selling real estate that she owned.
Tawny Kitaen
Retires
John Madden
John Madden is retiring from football announcing, where his enthusiastic, down-to-earth style made him one of sports' most popular broadcasters for three decades.
The Hall of Fame coach spent the last three seasons on NBC's "Sunday Night Football." His final telecast was the Super Bowl in February.
Cris Collinsworth will replace Madden, moving over from the network's studio show, NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol said. Collinsworth filled in when Madden took a game off last October.
John Madden
DHS Issued
Extremism Report
Civil liberties officials at the Homeland Security Department did not agree with some of the language in a controversial report on right-wing extremists, but the agency issued the report anyway.
The intelligence assessment issued to law enforcement last week said some military veterans could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or commit lone acts of violence. That prompted angry reactions from some lawmakers and veterans' groups.
In the report, right-wing extremism was defined as hate-motivated groups and movements, such as hatred of certain religions, racial or ethnic groups. "It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration," the report said.
The report on right-wing extremists cites the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by military veteran Timothy McVeigh as one instance of a veteran becoming a domestic terrorist.
Extremism Report
Bahamas Extortion Case
John Travolta
Prosecutors in the case of an alleged plot to extort $25 million from actor John Travolta after his son's death in the Bahamas say they are ready for trial.
Director of public prosecutions Bernard Turner says the island chain's government has collected all witness statements. The arraignment of the two defendants is scheduled for April 28.
Paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and former island Senator Pleasant Bridgewater appeared in court for the pretrial hearing Thursday. Both are free on bail.
The pair are accused of demanding money in exchange for suppressing a document related to the treatment of the celebrity's son, Jett Travolta. The chronically ill teen died in January after he suffered a seizure at a family vacation home.
John Travolta
My Neighborhood
Long Beach
A hospital worker shot another employee to death, critically wounded a second and then killed himself at a medical center Thursday, sending panicked people fleeing, police and witnesses said. Police Chief Anthony Batts would not identify those involved at the shooting at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center but said all were male. He said the motive remained under investigation but noted the violence came amid a flurry of recent shootings in the country.
Batts said officers responding to gunfire just before noon found one victim inside the hospital and then discovered a second victim outside, on the north side of the hospital outside the emergency room. Both were taken to the emergency room; one was dead and the other was critical, he said.
Melo Dotski, a radiology department clerk, said she had known the shooter by his first name for about two years. She said she used to help him with transactions when she worked as a teller at a bank at the medical center.
"He made all kinds of jokes, he was a funny man," Dotski said. "He was smiling, laughing, making sure everybody was doing OK."
Long Beach
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of April 6-12. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:
1. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.95 million homes, 6.14 million viewers.
2. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.77 million homes, 5.74 million viewers.
3. "iCarly" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.45 million homes, 5.05 million viewers.
4. "NCIS" (Tuesday, 7 p.m.), USA, 3.36 million homes, 4.39 million viewers.
5. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.23 million homes, 4.21 million viewers.
6. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.1 million homes, 3.87 million viewers.
7. "NCIS" (Monday, 7 p.m.), USA, 3.08 million homes, 3.96 million viewers.
8. "NCIS" (Monday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.07 million homes, 3.99 million viewers.
9. "The O'Reilly Factor" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 2.98 million homes, 3.97 million viewers.
10. "Penguins of Madagascar" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.963 million homes, 3.76 million viewers.
11. "NCIS" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), USA, 2.962 million homes, 3.96 million viewers.
12. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 7 p.m.), USA, 2.84 million homes, 3.7 million viewers.
13. "Masters Golf Tournament - Second Round" (Friday, 4 p.m.), ESPN, 2.8 million homes, 3.5 million viewers.
14. "NCIS" (Sunday, 10 p.m.), USA, 2.76 million homes, 3.7 million viewers.
15. "Masters Golf Tournament - First Round" (Thursday, 4 p.m.), ESPN, 2.74 million homes, 3.36 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Clement Freud
Clement Freud, a grandson of Sigmund Freud who became a well-known writer, politician and urbane regular on British radio, has died. He was 84.
He was best known from his three decades appearing on the BBC game show, "Just a Minute," in which panelists compete to see who can talk the longest without hesitation, deviation or repetition. Freud's well-stocked vocabulary and his slow, deadpan speech made him a master of the game.
Freud had a testy relationship with his brother, the famed artist Lucian Freud, rooted in childhood suspicions that Lucian was his mother's pet.
Born in Berlin, Clement Raphael Freud came to England with his family in 1933 - "refugees from the Nazis before the habit had caught on," he said.
He knew his grandfather, who died in London in 1939, as a sickly older man with mouth cancer. "But he was to me not famous, but to me a good grandfather in that he didn't forget my birthdays."
Years later, as a member of a parliamentary delegation to China, Freud noticed that a fellow legislator - the grandson and namesake of the wartime prime minister Winston Churchill - was always given better accommodations. "It's the only time I've been out-grandfathered," Freud remarked.
He was educated at the prestigious St. Paul's School in London and then was an apprentice cook at the Dorchester Hotel, where he saw in the New Year of 1942 with 10 portions of Beluga caviar and a bottle of Dom Perignon pilfered from his employer.
Following his army service, he was a liaison officer at the war crimes trial in Nuremberg.
From 1973 to 1987, he was a Liberal member of Parliament, a source of great pride.
Freud was granted a knighthood in 1987, an honor Lucian scathingly disparaged.
In 1950, Freud married Jill Flewett, who was said to have been C.S. Lewis' inspiration for the character of Lucy in the "Narnia" tales.
His wife survives, along with three sons and two daughters.
Clement Freud
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
